Skubick's Capitol: 'Tis the season' doesn't apply in Lansing

“Tis the season to be jolly” for most families across the state, except within the political family at the state Capitol.

This Lansing “family” is hopelessly dysfunctional as the name-calling, finger-pointing and post-lame-duck fallout continues to engulf the two political parties.

So much for holiday cheer around here.

While citizens are hoping for a badly needed dose of interparty cooperation, they are witnessing an ugly family argument that will run well into the New Year’s Eve party and way beyond that.

A perfect example was at the Electoral College the other day where Democrats gathered in what party chair Mark Brewer called a celebration to elect their president.

But the joyous event quickly degenerated into a “bash the Republicans” hatefest where legislative Democrats blasted the governor and his party for jamming through a host of bills without much input from the Democrats or the public.

Whatever trust there was between the two parties is now but a fond wish.

“We’ve taken a step back” on bipartisanship, Gov. Rick Snyder lamented the other day.

Actually, he’s off by a couple of steps.

His behavior on the right-to-work legislation has “poisoned the water,” according new House Democratic leader Rep. Tim Greimel.

It appears Greimel has no relationship with Snyder as evidenced by the fact that after Greimel won the leadership post, there was no immediate and traditional congratulatory call from the governor.

And as far as the “relationship” between the governor and the Senate Minority Leader Gretchen Whitmer, forget it. She is not only off his Christmas list, she doesn’t get phone calls and has pretty much reached persona non grata status with the front office. The fact she may be running against him in two years complicates the lack of warmth between the two.

So that leaves the governor seeking what he wants done in the new year without much Democratic support. In fact, Greimel has pledged to deny the governor any yes votes.

Another poignant example of the lack of trust centers on the talks with the unions to avoid right-to-work. For 10 days, labor leaders entered the executive office without the governor and offered up this and that to avoid the right-to-work cliff.

The governor says he did his talking on the phone.

Labor was willing to toss a number of Democratic sacred cows under the bus. It offered elimination of teacher tenure, let the governor pick the state school superintendent and ditch the state board of education and let him pick state supreme court justices, denying voters the right to do that.

And while unwilling to abolish the state civil service commission, which the governor’s guys suggested, labor offered to revamp the system regarding worker classification and bumping rules.

But there was never a counteroffer from the governor’s guys as they instructed labor to work a deal with the two Republican leaders.